Claim Gift of Tongues

1906

Members of New Sect Suddenly Endowed With Ability to Speak Chinese and Greek

Power to heal the sick, to prophesy, and the gift of tongues like that which enabled the first apostles to preach the gospel in strange lands, are all claimed by the members of the Church of the Full Gospel, a new religious sect which in the past three years has sprung up in Colorado and grown with remarkable rapidity.

In an old church on the corner of Nineteenth and Welton street, the congregation in Denver, which now numbers 800, holds its meetings on Sunday for regular service. Every Wednesday afternoon a meeting is held at which it is claimed the power of Divine healing has been again and again manifested. The Rev. G. F. Fink is founder of the new sect. The pastor of the Denver congregation is the Rev. S. A. Brelesford. Fifteen young men are now preparing themselves to become missionaries in foreign fields. Most of them understand no foreign language, but they will leave in the faith that this difficulty will be overcome through divine aid.

The claim is made that in the presence of many people members of the church have already been gifted with tongues they never heard before. Ethel Brelesford, the 12-year-old daughter of Pastor Brelesford, is said to have recently spoken in Chinese. James Diltz, assistant roadmaster of the Rock Island, recently resigned to become a missionary. He, too, they say, can speak Chinese. Others have spoken in German and Spanish, and two were gifted with the Greek language.